In recent years the problem of refuse disposal has been a major one. The former accepted practice of distributing refuse to dumps or even so-called "sanitary land fill sites" has resulted in utilization of large land areas for something considerably less than their optimum use. The nature of the refuse itself has presented many problems concerning the current usage of areas adjacent land fill areas and concerning the future usages of the land fill site itself.
It has been determined through experimentation that the heat value of rubbish collected within a large metropolitan area, for example, is very substantial; and it has been determined that much of the refuse thus collected can be successfully burned in installations where its heat value can be effectively utilized. As one example, it can be successfully burned in conjunction with other fuels in the process of generating steam at a steam electric plant.
A prerequisite to such utilization of refuse is the ability to economically comminute it to a particle size that can be efficiently burned. Current thinking is that particle sizes downward from one inch in maximum dimension can be economically and profitably burned.
Comminuting particular kinds of "clean" or undiluted refuse is also highly desirable so that such refuse can be successfully recycled. For example, it is desirable to comminute waste paper, fiber board and other wood fiber products preparatory to recycling the fibers in the production of paper and like products. Rubber from automobile tires can either be burned economically as set out above, or can be recycled for other purposes. Glass from used bottles and other sources can be easily handled and recycled when it is comminuted into small to fine particles.
Machines using rotors with horizontal axles and of general "hourglass" configuration have been known for a very considerable period of time for use as wood hogs. Such machines effectively turned parts of logs into wood chips. However, such machines relied on staggered or offset blades, similar to the blades on a wood planer, extending outwardly from the periphery of the rotor in position to knock or cut a chip off a solid piece of wood forced against it as the blade rotates with the rotor. These blades did not extend over the entire lineal dimension of the conical surfaces of the rotor apparently because this would have made too long a chip for the machine to have torn loose from a piece of wood resting along the entire periphery of the rotor. Also, the action was the cutting action of a knife into wood and tended to produce chips of the entire length of the solid piece of wood being pressed against the rotor at any particular point in time.
The following patents are believed to be pertinent at least in some degree:
U.s. pat. No. 2,195,363 to Fegley et al., granted in March of 1940; PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,610,543 to Jensen, granted in October of 1971; PA1 U.s. pat. No. 2,803,410 to Boni et al., granted in August of 1957; PA1 U.s. pat. No. 2,803,634 to Chayen, granted in August of 1957; PA1 U.s. pat. No. 2,957,508 to Mason, granted in October of 1960; and PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,151,814 to Morgan et al., granted in October of 1964.
Applicant is not aware of any other prior art which would affect the patentability of the invention disclosed and claimed herein.